Countdown to virgin refrigerant gas ban is a ticking time bomb

Food manufacturers, including some big-name processors, have been accused of burying their heads in the sand over imminent changes to the law on the use of refrigerant and cooling gases.

A ban on the use of new, or 'virgin', hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerant gases comes into force in January. This means food processors with old, leaky cooling systems will be forced to find supplies of recycled HCFC gases until 2015 when HCFCs will be banned altogether. HCFC refrigerants deplete the ozone layer. The most commonly used one is R22. Some other refrigerant gases, the F-gases, cause the greenhouse effect.

According to gas suppliers and F-Gas experts, the credit crunch and pressure on margins from supermarkets, combined with the traditional reluctance of many food manufacturers to invest, have led many processors to ignore the imminent changes to the law. They are relying instead on being able to buy recycled R22 to top-up their old plant.

But according to gas supplier BOC, there is a shortage of recycled R22. Last year, 2,206t of virgin R22 was sold, it said. But only 210t was reclaimed for resale - 10% of current demand. Matt Walmsley, marketing manager for refrigerants, said: "There is not going to be a lot around and it will cost a lot. So relying on the use of recycled gas is a high risk strategy." The alternatives are to flush out R22 and re-gas with specially designed so-called 'drop-in' gases; or invest in equipment that uses one of the 'green' refrigerants such as ammonia.